MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A 40-year-old man was mauled to death by a pack of dogs on a Memphis street Thursday, police said.
Officers were called around 2 a.m. to Belle Haven and Meadowbrook in southwest Memphis.
They found a man near that intersection with dog bites all over his body. Paramedics performed CPR and he was taken in critical condition to Regional Medical Center, where he later died from his injuries.
Police have identified the victim as Mario Moore.
Kevin Woods said he had just pulled up to the corner Thursday morning when he saw what he thought was a bunch of dogs fighting.
“I seen about seven, eight dogs,” Woods said. “I thought they were fighting with each other. Then I seen legs rolling around and I said, they’re jumping on a dude. So I kinda whipped my car around and started blowing my horn and they jumped off him.”
Police say they found “multiple aggressive dogs” across the street, and were told those dogs were responsible for the attack.
Memphis Animal Services released the following statement on Tuesday:
Officers have impounded a total of 12 dogs from the immediate area since the attack occurred, and although we believe we have all involved dogs in our custody, we still have traps set and officers patrolling the area. We have already determined four of these dogs were not involved, and they will be available for adoption or rescue. We will humanely euthanize any dog determined, based on the results of our joint investigation with police, to have been involved in the attack on the man who later died. Euthanasia of any involved animals would be the result in any case where a human died as the result of an attack.
We don’t use breed labels at MAS because visual identification of breed has been shown through data to be very inaccurate and undependable, but looking at them, they appear to be a variety of mixed breeds, with shepherd mix and lab mix appearing to be the dominant breeds.
Essie Jefferson was already terrified of dogs, but is even more alarmed after the attack right outside her house.
“I’m just hearing now he died. That’s so sad. It could have been me or anybody,” Jefferson said.
By Woods’ estimation, there are still at least two dogs that haven’t been captured.
Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the victim as Mario Williams.